Tim Duncan started the fourth quarter of Friday's game against the Sacramento Kings at the AT&T Center on the bench, watching a Spurs' lineup that included four reserves whittle away at the lead the Kings had held since the first minute of the game.

He stayed there until the final 5.5 seconds of what became an 88-86 loss, the Spurs' first at home this season.

Coach Gregg Popovich said it had nothing to do with managing the minutes of his oldest player in a compressed schedule.

“No,” Popovich said, “the group that was out there was blitzing and doing a great job. They got us back in the game and got us a six-point lead at one point.”

When Duncan finally returned, after Popovich called a timeout with 5.5 seconds left, he was an integral part of the play Popovich hoped would send the game to overtime. The in-bounds pass went from Tony Parker to Duncan, who took two dribbles and handed off to Danny Green, curling from the left corner.

Green drove to the basket, Duncan trailing, but the guard's floater from the right side of the basket was short of the rim and just grazed the net.

“Pop is trying to manage Timmy's minutes, and Tiago (Splitter) has been playing great for us,” said Parker. “He's improving every game, he's playing well. I think Pop just stuck with Tiago.”

Long-range woes: The Spurs made only 5 of 25 3-pointers Friday (20 percent), but that was better than they had done in Wednesday's victory in Orlando. Their long-distance tally there: 2 for 17 for 11.8 percent.

Their long-range accuracy is 16.7 percent over the last two games.

Gary Neal was the only Spur to make more than one 3-pointer Friday (2 for 6). He did his best to find a positive from the fact the Spurs made 3 of 5 from long distance in the fourth quarter.

“It's always good to see the ball go in the basket,” he said. “It breeds confidence. Tonight was a night where collectively we really couldn't make jump shots.”

No casting call: Manu Ginobili, the Spurs guard who suffered a fractured fifth metacarpal in his left hand against the Timberwolves on Jan. 2, sported a splint on his surgically repaired hand.

He had previously worn a cast since undergoing a procedure to implant a surgical plate and screws.

Ginobili even posted on his Twitter account a picture of his hand, minus cast or splint and showing the line of surgical stitches, even quipping that he has had to give up his plans for a career as a hand model.

Broadcast partnership renewed: Since the Spurs entered the NBA in 1976, their radio broadcasts of games have been on 1200 WOAI for all but one season. The team's fans won't have to fret about having to change their radio dial presets any time soon after the club announced a multi-year agreement to continue their broadcast partnership.

The partnership with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment includes broadcasting Rampage hockey games and Silver Stars WNBA games on Clear Channel's Ticket 760.